


Final Selections

by heroictype (swanreaper)



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Apartment hunting, Carlos Appreciation Week, Development, M/M, Nicknames
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-22
Updated: 2016-02-22
Packaged: 2018-05-22 16:42:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6087079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swanreaper/pseuds/heroictype
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Okay, so, they've gone over their options. Sometimes more than once. It's time to pick a new place, and make a home together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Final Selections

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: so I was so tired earlier that I forgot to mention that this was for day 2 of Carlos Appreciation Week. The prompt was "development" and I wanted to use this to look at a particular moment of development in Carlos relationship with Cecil. Also, weird logic and nicknames.

It wasn’t a condo. That was the important part. 

It was an enclosed space within a larger enclosed space, with a ceiling that doubled as a floor and a floor that doubled as a ceiling, because they were on the second floor of the building. There were walls, and some of the walls had a window or two in them. 

The scientific name for the space was an apartment. It was their second visit to this location. Carlos crossed his arms, and spun three-hundred and sixty degrees. He saw a place that was clean and quiet, with space for a couch, with barren walls that would look great with watercolors of Khoshekh and scientific equipment on them. The two walk-in closets were a nice bonus, too. 

“What do you think, honey?” Carlos asked, as Cecil came back out of the bedroom. He was toying with the edge of the tape measure he used to make sure they could fit all the furniture they wanted, and the bloodstone circle they needed, into any given room. 

“I think it’s neat!” Cecil replied. His thoughtful expression became a giddy grin at the pet name. “What do _ you _ think, Carlos?”

“I agree with your assessment. In fact, I think it’s _really_ neat!” 

“ _So_ neat!”

“Extremely neat!”

It was actually Cecil who caught himself. The radio host’s brow furrowed. He cleared his throat, but the words wouldn’t dislodge immediately. He steepled his fingers, inhaled, and tried again. “So, since we agree on that… Do you… do we want it? This place. Do we want it to be… our place?”

Carlos pulled a small notebook from a lab coat pocket, and flipped through it. It contained, for the most part, addresses and notes on the places they were attached to. He bit his lip. 

“It’s a very strong contender. I think, when we consider all the relevant information… Yes. Yes. I want to live here with you. And if you want to live here with me… Well. ‘You’ plus ‘me’ equals ‘we.’ That would make it...” Carlos paused, and held out his hand. “It’s a very complicated equation with lots of variables and molecules and limbs, but somehow, I don’t think I need to explain this one.”

Cecil took the offered hand, and wandered close enough to kiss. “You don’t have to, but I’d certainly listen if you wanted to.”

Carlos leaned forward, taking advantage of the proximity by pressing his lips to Cecil’s, then he said, “Mm. Actually, not right now. I want to get the paperwork together. It’d be one thing if it was just the application, but we also need to file the change with the City Council…”

“And don’t forget, we need to report our furniture to the Sheriff’s Secret Police, so they can start planning the best places to plant the cameras and microphones,” Cecil added, in a tone that somehow straddled the line between mischievous and dutiful, and with a painfully ordinary smile.

“Oh, yeah.” Carlos sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, but smiled back. “Thanks for reminding me, Ceec.”

“No problem,” he said, and one corner of his mouth quirked up. “Oh. Ceec? That’s new.”

“Oh. Yeah,” Carlos repeated, using a wholly different tone and inflection. “Do you not like it? I know some people don’t like nicknames, I won’t call you that if-”

“Are you kidding? It’s adorable. Go ahead and save yourself a syllable, my darling Carlos.”

Carlos smiled again, because when he considered it, he really did like the sound of the nickname. “Okay. Ceec. Short and sweet and… the opposite of what I want to do, as far as being with you is concerned.”

So it was even more fitting than he’d intended, which was to say, it fit at all. He had not, for once, been deliberately scientific about it. It had just slipped off his tongue, an unconscious attempt to communicate a little faster, and a little more lightheartedly, with the man he loved. 

Now, there were scientific reasons why that had happened, of course. They’d been spending a lot of time together lately, or more accurately, they’d shared a lot of undefinable but generally sequential moments together. Carlos was getting really used to being around Cecil, and they had a lot to say to each other, so his brain took over to streamline the process. He hummed to himself, and squeezed Cecil’s hand. It was a nice thought, and there was even nicer to follow.

They’d be around each other even more frequently in a month or so, after all. They hadn’t picked an exact moving date yet, because they had reasoned that an exact moving place ought to come first. With that decided, based on data from their conversation moments ago, they would pick one soon enough.

“Oh,  _ Carlos _ ,” Cecil whispered, evidently rather taken by the last concept Carlos had actually voiced. “I want to stay with you, too.” 

Whether they phrased it forwards or backwards, the important part was that a scientist and a radio host occupied a matching time and space. 


End file.
